The structure of Max Weber's ethic of responsibility (Exploring the philosophical hierarchies of values and value conflict as a context for moral endeavor)

Max Weber's distinction in "Politics as a Vocation" between the ethic of co nviction and the ethic of responsibility is best understood as a distinctio n between mutually exclusive ethical worldviews. Interpretations that corre late the two ethics with Weber's distinction between value-rational social action and instrumental-rational social action are present in both ethics. The ethic of conviction recognizes a given hierarchy of values as the conte xt for moral endeavor. The ethic of responsibility acknowledges value oblig ations, but assumes the absence of any given hierarchy of values and the in evitability of value conflict as the context for moral endeavor. When inter preted in the context of his multilayered understanding of value conflict, Weber's ethic of responsibility emerges as a coherent ethical perspective.